Fabulous and very french cork wreath

{cork wreath created by moi}

As promised here are some photos and also details of the steps that I followed in order to create my cork wreath.

Note of those of you that want to give this a go I would suggest starting with a small or medium sized wreath as rather than the largest in the shop which is what I did and it took many corks, far more than the 200 odd corks that it was supposed to take......

All you need is a straw wreath, a glue gun piece of twine or florist wire and lots of corks and some berry decorations if you would like to add them. You can also add some spanish moss but I could not find any near us.

1. Tie your twine or floral wire so that it wraps around the wreath but still has room for about 2 - 3 fingers to fit underneath. This is what you will use to hang your wreath afterwards when it is finished.

2. You then need to cover the entire front of the wreath in corks laying side by side.
I found that the best way to do this is with a long swath of hot glue down one side of the cork.

3. Line the corks up all nice and neat in a little row.
You are not going to want to go around the back side of the wreath - remember - it's going to be hanging on a wall so you want the backside to be flat.

4. You will get to a stubborn part where they do not line up like you want them to.
So you just have to tuck them in where you can... still trying as hard as you can to stay flat for this first layer. Your goal is to cover as much of the straw as you can.

Here you can see the wreath starting to take shape. If you have any awkward places cut some corks in 1/2 and use these. They look great poking out especially if they have the year of the vintage printed on them.

Here is a closeup of the cork layers....

Once you get the first layer of corks on, the long strip of glue is no longer going to stick the corks to the wreath.

Now in order for the corks to stick you will need to glue fthem at random angles. I tended to place them first to see what they looked like and also note where they touch then put glue where it was required.

The second layer is really just a layer of random placed corks - this is the stage where you want to use your "best looking" or most interesting corks. If using berries or spanish moss this is the time to start placing them amongst the final layer of corks.

Many corks later, you will have something that looks similar to my one but maybe not quite so big.......

This is a close up of what the layers will look like......

I am planning on making some smaller ones and giving them as gifts for Noel.

Finally I would like to wish everybody a very happy thanksgiving, it is the time of the year that we should all give thanks of what we have, not matter wherewe are in the world.

A vendredi

L x